


Tangled

by MissLittyKitty



Category: Actor RPF, American Actor RPF, Real Person Fiction
Genre: Attraction, Blind Date, F/M, Humor, MissLittyKitty, Romance, Written in Dreams, tangled
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-16
Updated: 2015-05-16
Packaged: 2018-03-30 21:15:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3952006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissLittyKitty/pseuds/MissLittyKitty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A blind date going...not as expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

Already seated at the table in the restaurant, I listlessly flicked through the pages of the book I’d brought along. Having no desire to be here, I’d stashed the paperback into my handbag at the last minute before leaving my apartment. If everything else failed, I’d be at least able to slip away to the bathroom to read, claiming after about fifteen minutes that I had a sudden bout of very bad cramps. 

Exhaling deeply, I flipped the book shut and put it onto the table, at the same time grabbing for my bag to check the time on my phone. Only five more minutes until he’d be here. God, what had I gotten myself into? Why, just why, did I have to give in to Marissa’s constant prodding of her setting me up with a distant cousin? Or was it a family friend?   
See, I’d already forgotten. I was so not into this. Agreeing to go on a blind date just to shut her up was wrong on so many levels. I pursed my lips, blowing out my breath in a puff. ‘Come on, Tessa, get a grip,’ I told myself in my head. ‘It’s only one hour. Give him that. And if, by the end of that hour, you want to end it, you just do.’

I sighed once more, checking my appearance in the small mirror hanging on a wall protrusion across from me. At least I’d convinced myself to put on my favorite black skirt, not quite reaching my knees and the dark purple shirt I’d chosen accentuated my cleavage with a diamond shaped cutout but didn’t overdo it. It would’ve set off my dark blue eyes quite spectacularly if I’d been a little more attentive with my make-up. Which I hadn’t. My face seemed too pale and my eyes rather dull. Oh well, nothing to do about that now. And anyway, I didn’t really want to be here, did I? This was simply a waste of time. 

I took up my book to put it back into my bag, while mentally berating myself again on how stupid I’d been to agree to this as a male voice cut through those thoughts, asking “Is this seat taken?” 

My head snapped up and I felt my eyes widen. This was Marissa’s distant cousin? This was my date? Oh god, I was so going to murder Marissa. She could’ve at least mentioned that he was really, really handsome. Or maybe, just maybe let slip the tiniest of hints that he was a famous actor.   
He was dressed in a dark grey suit, a black shirt underneath minus a tie. His hair was on the very short side, while the beginning of a beard framed his mouth which was turned up in a smile. I quickly snapped out of my ogling him and let go of the book. Clearing my throat, I stood up.

“Uhm, no, of course not,” I stuttered, trying to return the smile and held out my hand. “Hi, I’m Tessa. It’s nice to meet you.”   
“Tessa,” he repeated and a shower ran down my spine. His warm, strong hand wrapped around mine and he shook it, still smiling, making my stomach clench into a tight ball of knots.   
“It’s lovely to meet you. I’m Chris,” he said, let go of my hand and motioned toward the chairs. “Shall we sit down?”   
We did just that and I found his gaze. His smile was still there, turned a little into a smirk when he asked, “From your expression I gather you had no idea it was me you would be meeting.” 

“No idea at all,” I gave back, shaking my head and smiled sheepishly.  
“Yeah,” he chuckled, “it does sound like something he would do.” That Chris referred to Marissa as ‘he’ did register with me but I dismissed it. Maybe I hadn’t been listening and she had meant her husbands’ distant cousin or something like that.   
“Just so you know, this set up totally screams ‘payback’ at me,” I said, unable to keep the grin from my face. “My friend’s going to bleed.” Chris roared with laughter.  
“I just thought the same thing,” he eventually replied making me chuckle. “Count me in, if you like.”   
“I’ll see,” I told him, smiling. “But thanks for the offer. – Please don’t take this the wrong way but it does really surprise me that you’d go on a blind date.”  
“I guess it would,” he admitted, his eyes crinkling around the edges when he smiled again. “And I hate to say it but I only agreed to go to shut up my friend. He’s been pestering me with it for ages.”

“Oh god,” I groaned, nodding my head. “You don’t need to say anymore. That’s the only reason I’m here…or well…it was the only reason.”   
“Was?” he inquired, one of his eyebrows rising while his lips curved into a knowing smile and I felt the blush on my cheeks deepen.   
“I…well, yes. I’m…I’m actually enjoying this,” I admitted and to my surprise he reached across the table, taking hold of my hand.   
“So am I,” he gave back and for a few moments I just lost myself in his eyes. It was true. The first few moments had been slightly awkward but right now it didn’t feel like that at all. And what was more, I found that I truly wanted to be here; I wanted to get to know him, talk to him.   
His thumb gently tracing the outline of my knuckles brought me out of my thoughts. Blushing once more, I broke the gaze and reluctantly pulled my hand away from his. I heard him clearing his throat and caught the movement of him leaning back in his chair. 

“So, you have to tell me why the book?” His question made me find his gaze again before I momentarily glanced down at the book still lying on the table.   
“Oh that. I just brought it along in case…you know this date wouldn’t go so well,” I said and was on the verge of starting to explain my escape plan but his furrowing brow made me pause. He looked at me for several beats before saying, “Somehow that doesn’t make sense. Peter told me, the woman I’d be meeting would be bringing this book as a way for me to recognize her.”  
“Oh,” was all I could say, hearing the disappointment in my voice quite clearly. So, if he wasn’t my date who was?   
From out of the corner of my eyes, I caught sight of the maître d’ approaching our table. A tall, lanky and bald man followed him, as well as a beautiful, blond woman dressed to kill. All three of them came to a stop in front of our table and the maître leaned in slightly when he spoke, “I am very sorry, Mr. Evans, Miss,” he indicated me with a nod, “but I fear there has been some kind of confusion.“

Yes, that much was clear. I sighed once again and stood up to greet my real blind date while blondie was already batting her eyelashes at Chris who had gotten to his feet as well. Our eyes met for a moment and I just had to shoot him a small, quite disappointed smile. He returned it and shrugged his shoulders before the maître showed him and blondie the way to their table and unfortunately out of my sight. Oh well. I briefly closed my eyes and took a deep breath then smiled and held out my hand to tall, lanky and bald.   
“Hi, I’m Tessa. It’s nice to meet you and I’m sorry about the mix-up.” 

“Yes, well,” he grumbled, barely even shaking my hand. “I’m Herbert Fitzrow. Pleasure to meet you too, Tessy.”   
“Sorry but it’s Tessa,” I was unable to stop myself from correcting him and rolled my eyes as he already took his seat.   
“Yes. Tessa, of course. How unfortunate this mix-up,” he snuffled and added under his breath, “How is one to compete with a Hollywood movie star?”   
Oh peachy. I could already tell that this date would be going just great.


	2. Part 2

“…and then, you won’t believe it, I actually found it again in the trash. The trash, can you imagine? The disaster if I hadn’t found it in time,” his nasal voice droned on and I forced myself to at least acknowledge this unbelievable hardship of finding a precious little stamp in the trash can with a small gasp. A stamp. He was talking about a stamp. 

My mind felt like a ground zero. How could anyone ever be so boring? There seemed to be not one interesting bone in him. Throughout the past hour his bald head had been the only distinctly pleasant distraction from his monotonous rambling of stamps. It was shaped a little bit like the cone-heads, from the movie. And I had even spotted a rather prominent vein on it that looked like the Mississippi river. God, I had better end this before I’d fall asleep and did a face dive into my Macaroni Bolognese.   
I listlessly poked at the remaining pasta on my plate, my appetite gone and my mood below freezing point. I would never ever go on another blind date again. Never. This was pure torture. 

“…what do you think, Tessy?”   
“Hm?” My head snapped back up and I smiled, having heard nothing of his speech. By God, this was already a disaster and I didn’t feel like enduring this any longer. I let my fork fall to my plate with a loud clang and forced another smile onto my face.   
“Okay, I admit I have no idea what you just asked me. And my name is Tessa. T E S S A, got it, Herby?” I stood up and pulled my wallet out of my handbag. Putting a twenty dollar bill onto the table, I said, “Thank you for taking the time meeting with me but this is obviously not working at all. Have a great night.”   
Not waiting for his answer, I turned around to walk away but his high-pitched yell of “Excuse me” halted me in my step. 

‘Just go, Tessa. Leave now,’ my head told me but it was already too late. I turned to face him, finding him directly in front of me and sighed.  
“What?”   
“I knew it, didn’t I? It’s all because of this actor,” he said and I simply stared at him for several seconds, not believing what was going on in his head. How could anyone be that delusional about how people perceived him? 

“Yes,” I eventually said. “You are absolutely right. In the few minutes we talked I fell so desperately in love with him that no other man could ever compare.”   
The sarcasm dripped from my words so thickly, I was surprised I didn’t choke on it. At his very stunned expression, I could barely keep from laughing out loud. This whole situation was so absurd; it was teetering on the verge of hilarity. I felt the laughter rising up inside me, unable to hold it in any longer and I desperately wanted to leave this behind me. I patted his upper arm, shrugged my shoulders and turned away so that he didn’t have to see my grin. But it froze when my eyes took in a familiar face, displaying a just as familiar smile. 

Shit, I hadn’t noticed I’d already walked that far to the front of the dining area because right there in front of me sat Chris, grinning from ear to ear. Had he heard everything? Oh well, there was nothing to do about it if he had. So I just pulled my shoulders up and smiled sheepishly, making my way to the left where the main entrance was.   
A waiter helped me into my light jacket and after I thanked him, I stepped out of the restaurant onto the sidewalk. God, what a disaster! But despite everything I felt more like laughing than crying. And I just did. It spilled out of me so hard I had to lean against the brick wall behind me to keep standing. My whole body shook with it and it didn’t take long for my eyes to water. It just served me right for agreeing to this in the first place. 

When I eventually calmed down enough to wipe my eyes, my chest still heaving, I heard a voice next to me say, “Thank god. For a moment I thought I’d have to give you CPR.”   
My head snapped around and my eyes focused on him leaning against the brick wall only a few steps to my right. His hands were buried in his trouser pockets, his feet crossed at the ankle. 

“CPR?” I inquired, my eyebrow rising.   
“That or slap you,” he grinned pushing himself away from the wall and facing me directly. “Only to keep you from choking on your own laughter, of course.”   
“Of course,” I replied and returned his grin.   
“So I heard you fell desperately in love with me in the course of a few minutes,” he continued on, winking at me and despite the blush I replied, “Yes, I believe that’s what I said.”   
“Is it true?”  
“Oh, come on,” I groaned exasperated, rolling my eyes. “What the hell was I supposed to say to that idiots’ question? At least, it effectively shut him up.”   
“Yes, it did,” Chris chuckled and he approached me. “But you haven’t answered my question.”   
Mouth agape, I found his eyes again shaking my head. 

“Seriously?” I asked and my lips formed into a smirk. “Well, sorry to disappoint you but even you have to put in some more effort.”   
“Really?” he inquired, quirking one eyebrow and at my nod he moved in, positioning his body so close to mine that we were almost touching and bracing his hands on the wall behind me. “Is it working?” His lips hovered over mine and I was so tempted to just lean in and kiss him but I didn’t. I smirked once again, moved my head to the side and forward so that my cheek touched his and breathed into his ear, “Not quite.” 

I felt the shudder run through his muscles and grinned, quickly slipping through the space left beneath his arm and the wall.   
“Why don’t you buy me a drink to find out what it takes to make me fall in love with you?”


End file.
